The adventures of Gary and Carolyn living aboard and continuously cruising the uk canals and rivers on narrowboat Inca

Saturday, 4 July 2015

Avon calling !

After 2 days moored in Bancroft basin its time to make a move . We pulled pins at 06.55 with my plan being to turn left when we drop down onto the river Avon and head up to the water point and then continue as far up the river as we could.

On the way we passed this field of Giant Hogweed. At up to 18 feet tall its a nasty plant and you don't want to go anywhere near it as the sap can seriously damage your skin causing blisters and if it comes in to contact with your eyes it can cause blindness.

Once we had filled with water near the old bathing place we carried on up the river and passed these Glampers.

While the statutory head of navigation is at Alverston which is 3 miles up from Stratford it is apparently inadvisable for deep draughted boats to proceed past Cliffe cottage. Even the average narrowboat struggles past The old Bathing place as it gets very shallow. But I was determined to get as far as i could. We ended up winding (turning) with some difficulty a couple of hundred yards from Cliffe cottage as it was getting extremely shallow and I didn't fancy reversing a mile or so back down a flowing river or even worse getting stuck. Still I was well pleased we got that far as many boaters never attempt it and it was well worth the effort.

Heading back into Stratford upon Avon.

With all the boat traffic on this stretch of The River Avon you need to be very careful especially when going with the flow when heading downstream.

Passing The RSC Theatre.

How about this for a mooring…We are opposite Holy Trinity Church which is the final resting place of the great man himself, William Shakespeare. We will have a day here before deciding what to do next. Decisions decisions decisions….

Well I'm blowed my dad also had a desire to head up river as far as he could, we even passed a dredger around Alverston ! Anyway not to put a fine a point on it we ran aground a few times sounding quite rocky on the bottom. Then in the bends beyond Ryon? hill house not much further than cliffe cottage we had to wind between some bedrock in the river, very adventurous for us kids we loved it. Felt very Christopher Columbus we thought we had been further than any narrowboat before us, the imagination knows no bounds when your a kid.Cheers for another great post.Ade

Hi Ade , we did look at hiring a small motor boat for a day and go up as far as we could, but when when we saw the price decided against it. We do have our own inflatable boat and engine back in Devon and have thought about bringing it up for such occasions...Maybe one day ..All the best Gary